How to setup a budget when you are getting married in Croatia

Setting the budget for your wedding is one of the biggest challenges you are facing, whether you are planning to have your wedding at home or abroad.
As a destination wedding planner, I often get questions from our clients about where to start and how to calculate costs and set the budget for the wedding. If you’re like almost all our couples, you want to be sure that, besides a beautiful destination, you’re going to have a wedding that is going to fit your budget.
To help you get a clearer picture of what you can expect when getting married in Croatia, I made a list of the main costs based on average prices.

VENUE

Choosing the right venue is the first thing that almost every couple does. Average costs for the venue usually take 40% - 60% of your total wedding budget. This is the reason why it is so important to set the cost of the venue first. Also, the cost of the venue can vary a lot, depending on your guest numbers and the time of year when you want to have your wedding. Having this in mind, we always do detailed venue features and budget comparisons for our clients at the beginning stage of the wedding planning process.
Most of the venues have prepared menus and beverage packages for weddings. The prices range from 50€ - 150€/person. Beyond the costs of food and drinks, some of the venues require rental fees and it ranges from 500€ - 4 500€. As I already mentioned, the prices for the menus and rental fees, depend on the wedding date, guest numbers, or both.

LEGAL REQUIREMENTS

After you arrange the budget for venue, the next very important thing you need to do is deal with paper work. Like every country, Croatia has it laws that you need to oblige to have your marriage legally valid. Besides fees for notification of marriage and a fee for the marriage in front of the registrar which amounts to 40€, you need to know that you must also pay a fee for a translator and for a marriage ceremony outside the Registry office.
The translator fee is between 300€ - 500€ and includes translating all necessary documents and translating the wedding ceremony. This cost you can’t avoid since Croatian law requires a translator at the weddings for all foreign citizens.
Since you are choosing to have a destination wedding, you probably want to have your wedding ceremony on some beautiful location near the sea or on the beach, but that is going to cost you. The fees for wedding ceremonies that are outside of Registrar office can vary between 300€ - 800€. The fee depends on distance from the wedding ceremony location to the registrar office, and when the marriage takes the place. If you want plan the wedding held during the non-working days, holidays, or in the later time of the day, that is going to increase the fee for the Registrar.

PHOTOGRAPHY

Choosing a skilled photographer who will capture the best moments and memories of your big day is a very high priority for most of the couples.
There are several photographers who are very talented, reliable, and professional, and what is most important - that can fit your budget and style.
Even though there are variations in prices and styles, there are some basic price ranges that you can expect for a photographer in Croatia:
• 12 hour of coverage, 200 – 300 images and wedding image gallery ranges from 800€ - 2000€ (depending on chosen photographer)
• Additional photographer ranges from 200€ - 500€
• Wedding book ranges from 200€ - 500€

MUSICS

The right choice of the music will set the mood for your wedding party and reflect your personal style and vision. The best way to set up the budget for music is to think about your wedding day as two separate events: wedding ceremony and wedding party.
For the wedding ceremony, couples usually want to have classical music such as violin, guitar, piano etc. There are a number of those styles of musicians in Croatia, so don’t be discourage if you can’t find them on the internet. The reason for that is that many of them don’t have websites, but that doesn’t mean that they are not good. If you’re not hiring a wedding planner ( and remember, wedding planners do have lists of musicians), you can ask at the Croatian National Theatre.
The typical prices for a duo for a 1 hour ceremony range from 200€ – 270€, and for quartets from 400€ - 550€. Obliviously, the more instruments you want to have musicians play during the ceremony, the more expensive it will be.
As for the wedding party, you can choose from a DJ or band. Prices for DJs are between 600€ - 800€. Bands are more expensive, and prices range from 1500€ to 2000€. If you are having your wedding on the islands, you need to calculate the additional prices of travel and accommodations, since musicians need to stay during the night on the island.

FLOWERS AND DECORATIONS

The thing you need to know about flowers when you’re getting married in Croatia is that you can get almost any flowers during the year. However, if you go with flowers that are not in the season, you are going to spend more money and that will impact your budget. For this reason it’s a good idea for you to get more information about what flowers are seasonal. We usually suggest 2 – 4 florists who are very good and professional and can help you in choosing the flowers that will be complimentary with your style, but in your budget, too.
There are also other costs that you are going to have such as beauty, transportation, wedding favours, etc. But these five are going to take most of your budget.
I hope that this blog was helpful for you to get a clearer picture of what you can expect when you are getting married in Croatia, and where to start when you’re setting the budget for your amazing day.

About the Author

Ivana Vukušić has always been passionate in organizing events. Warm personality, creativity, and passion for organizing the unique weddings at every single detail makes Ivana valuable member of WOW team. Her great knowledge about venues and Croatian wedding suppliers will help you to have relax and stress free wedding planning. Creating a wedding day that totally reflect clients personality and vision is her main goal

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Ivana really did make our vision come to life. We had an unforgettable wedding day that was seamlessly organised and totally stress-free thanks to her and her team. The whole experience, from plan.. - Sophia and Ryan Gibb, 14-Nov-2017